Need some opinions

[DieselDawg]

Long time lurker, New owner.

I recently purchased a new to me 90 SNCB. My boat has 570 hrs on the clock and is bone stock. An electrical problem has surfaced on my boat within the last week and ruined a whole weekends worth of skiing. My electrical problem has two parts, so please bear with me.

My problem is that my ignition breaker will trip after running the blower for about 15 seconds. The blower makes no strange noises and seems to run fine until the breaker trips. The ignition breaker will also trip with the blower off and the engine running. I have noticed that my voltage gauge reads lower than 12 if I run anything less than 3000 RPM. Also the ignition horn will intermentently start to buzz at me if I drop below 3000 RPM. I have checked voltage to the dash and voltage to every breaker, with a multimeter, and I have 12.50 volts to the dash and breakers. I have checked for continuity on all my wires and all seem to be good. I have also visually inspected all the wires for breaks or chaffing and found nothing. I also tried a jumper power wire and jumper ground wire to and from the daisy chain on the breakers with no luck. It is possible that my blower motor maybe going out and drawing to many amps, but wouldn't that trip just the blower breaker and not just the ignition breaker? It is also possible for my alternator to be going bad, which I think it is, but could the two problems be related?

Thanks,
Matt

[Andrew]

RE: Need some opinions

well, i was gonna say "check the resistance of all the power and ground wires between the blower and battery" but since u've done that, i dunno what to tell ya.....

[TravisFling]

RE: Need some opinions

I would pull the alternator and take it to AutoZone and have them run a diagnostic on it.

[maxpower220]

I doubt that your blower motor will have enough amp draw to do the things you describe. I second the alternator maybe being the cause. Have that checked. Also, check your voltage regulator output.

[OHLNautique]

I had to replace the ignition breaker on my 89 sport. It would blow every time I shut the engine down. You might try that, it's a pretty cheap part.

[OHLNautique]

Let me make sure we are talking about the same breaker. It's located at the back of the engine. Mine had a big red button on it.

[DieselDawg]

Thanks for the replies!

The breaker that is tripping is the breaker on the dash not the breaker on the engine. (sorry for the confusion)

I will pull the alternator and have it tested. Hopefully this will be a quick fix and not a long drawn out process!


Thanks,
Matt

[OHLNautique]

Could it still be an issue with the breaker itself?

[OHLNautique]

The one on the dash....

[DieselDawg]

I thought that the breaker might be the problem also. I swapped out the blower breaker with the ignition breaker and the problem stayed the same. I am in the process of removing the alternator to have it and the voltage regulator tested. If the alternator is going bad I hope it will solve at least one of my problems.


Thanks,
Matt

[DieselDawg]

I took my alternator in to have it tested and it did not pass. The alternator was only able to produce 10.8 volts. So I will replace the alternator and then try to figure out the problem with the blower. Does anyone know the best place to get an alternator for a decent price? I will probably get an alternator from Discount Inboard Marine unless someone has a better sugestion.

Thanks,
Matt

[maxpower220]

You should check local shops in your area, they can rebuild the one that you have. I have had a few starters rebuilt in the past. It imay not much cheaper, but you know it is for your boat.

[DieselDawg]

I thought about having a shop rebuild my alternator for me. My only concern is that I will still have the ugly oxidized alternator housing that stands out like a sore thumb.

Also,
Has anybody here ever done a complete engine forward rewire of the boat. Under my dash looks like a rats nest of tangled wires and zip ties. I'm looking for recommended wire sizes and maybe some alternative dash breakers. I would also like to replace the dash breaker lights with some small LED's.

[Andrew]

i completely redid the electrical on my '86........ it took some time, but knowing that i won't have any electrical problems on the water is well worth the work!

i haven't seen a single nautique that had a decent electrical install from the factory..... i would highly recommend re-doing it. as for wiring sizes, just match the wire size and length with whatever the breakers are rated for on the breaker panel. i swapped all of my main lines out with 0/1 so that it can handle any additions i make in the future, but as long as u use the same size or bigger u should be just fine. ur main concern should be eliminating all of the BS daisy chains, cleanly routing all of the wire, and soldering all of the crappy crimp on connectors.

[inboardsonly]

"Eliminate the daisy chains ...." x2

What you are experiencing is that as the voltage drops, the amps go up, and the breaker trips. The other problem is with the switch breakers in the dash.... when they are used as switches, they do wear out, so plan on replacing a few of them, if you rewire the instrument panel.

What I (and others) have found is that running a dedicated positive and negative up to the instrument panel is key.

If you have noticed how the voltmeter bounces every time you turn something on, its because of the daisy chain wiring on the instruments.

Look at the ignition switch, and you will see that all power is coming off of it, and that it is probably not bigger than a 10 gauge wire.

I ran a pair of 6 gauge wires to a Blue Sea Systems bus bar. One for positive and one for negative. Then all the power can come off of it.

If you want the power to be ignition controlled, use a relay.

When things like Perfect Pass, or bigger stereos get added, or lights, you'll be glad you have the proper power going to them.

Pat